A Question Regarding Experience To Qualify For OTR Positions

[rckfrd98]

Hello Fellow Truckers! I have almost 15 years exp w/ a class a and doubles endorsement. it is all local/ city driving mostly in chicago then down in ft myers fla the last 5 years. Here is my question Why do i not get credited with those years when being considered for an OTR position? I have had 1 accident in the 15 or so years i have driven and never and i mean never had a moving violation. the job market in sw flis just about non existant and i am really considering moving and doing something OTR but am reluctant to start at the bottom of a pay scale when i have over a million accident free miles under my belt. any comments would be appreciated. thanks,
rocky

[GMAN]

To me, experience is experience, regardless of where it originates. I think it has to do with time management and being away from home. Otr drivers need to be able to pick up and deliver on set schedules, often thousands of miles away. You need to know how to manage your time and pace yourself. Many local drivers are not subject to the same rigid schedules. Logs may also be another factor, depending on where the local driver runs. One other consideration is being away from home and your family. Otr drivers are accustomed to living in the truck, local drivers go home and sleep in their own bed every night. There are some recruiters on this forum you may be able to better answer your questions.

[Evinrude]

Hello Fellow Truckers! I have almost 15 years exp w/ a class a and doubles endorsement. it is all local/ city driving mostly in chicago then down in ft myers fla the last 5 years. Here is my question Why do i not get credited with those years when being considered for an OTR position? I have had 1 accident in the 15 or so years i have driven and never and i mean never had a moving violation. the job market in sw flis just about non existant and i am really considering moving and doing something OTR but am reluctant to start at the bottom of a pay scale when i have over a million accident free miles under my belt. any comments would be appreciated. thanks,
rocky

CEO's of otr companies want to pay the least they can for drivers. They want rookies that will work for bottom wages, then as they get more experience and miles, they reduce your millage and force you to quite and start the cycle again.

[dcmilkwagon]

Hello Fellow Truckers! I have almost 15 years exp w/ a class a and doubles endorsement. it is all local/ city driving mostly in chicago then down in ft myers fla the last 5 years. Here is my question Why do i not get credited with those years when being considered for an OTR position? I have had 1 accident in the 15 or so years i have driven and never and i mean never had a moving violation. the job market in sw flis just about non existant and i am really considering moving and doing something OTR but am reluctant to start at the bottom of a pay scale when i have over a million accident free miles under my belt. any comments would be appreciated. thanks,
rocky

LOL I'm in the same boat as you my freind. I've been driving local for the last 8 years and want to move back into otr. All of the recruiters I have talked to want me to attend truck driving school, train with a trainer for 8 weeks or won't talk to me at all. I've had my cdl since 1992 and have 1 preventable (tree limb gouged a hole in top of trailer in 1993). Have over 1 million miles since then with no incidents and no tickets.
At the present time I am trying to switch to the otr division for the same company I have worked for, for 3+ years and am still having to deal with the obstacle of no otr exp for the past 3 years. The recruiter I am working with is trying to get this waived as I technically work for the same stockholders, errrr, I mean same boss. Keep us posted on your progress, and I wish you luck.

[GTR SILVER]

Hello Fellow Truckers! I have almost 15 years exp w/ a class a and doubles endorsement. it is all local/ city driving mostly in chicago then down in ft myers fla the last 5 years. Here is my question Why do i not get credited with those years when being considered for an OTR position? I have had 1 accident in the 15 or so years i have driven and never and i mean never had a moving violation. the job market in sw flis just about non existant and i am really considering moving and doing something OTR but am reluctant to start at the bottom of a pay scale when i have over a million accident free miles under my belt. any comments would be appreciated. thanks,
rocky

LOL I'm in the same boat as you my freind. I've been driving local for the last 8 years and want to move back into otr. All of the recruiters I have talked to want me to attend truck driving school, train with a trainer for 8 weeks or won't talk to me at all. I've had my cdl since 1992 and have 1 preventable (tree limb gouged a hole in top of trailer in 1993). Have over 1 million miles since then with no incidents and no tickets.
At the present time I am trying to switch to the otr division for the same company I have worked for, for 3+ years and am still having to deal with the obstacle of no otr exp for the past 3 years. The recruiter I am working with is trying to get this waived as I technically work for the same stockholders, errrr, I mean same boss. Keep us posted on your progress, and I wish you luck.

try walmart.........................they seem to like drivers with a MM or more....BOL 2 ya............ 8)

In many cases, it isn't the OTR companies making the descions but their insurance carriers. The way they see it, running local in a box truck or single-screw day-cab with pup or 48' is different than rolling with a dual-stacked StarCar and Constellation sleeper plus 53' trailer. And so they will force you to re-train if you go OTR.

It's basically a bunch of BS. Multi-stop local work is alot more challenging than holding a steering wheel for 11+ hours. Anyone who's done both jobs will tell you that. Hell, I bump more docks in a day than most OTR drivers do in 2 weeks.

One nice thing about LTL is that you can jump into OTR and they will recognize your experience. That's because we run the road (linehaul) and local city (P&D) and have similar equipment to the OTR carriers.

[dcmilkwagon]

It's basically a bunch of BS. Multi-stop local work is alot more challenging than holding a steering wheel for 11+ hours. Anyone who's done both jobs will tell you that. Hell, I bump more docks in a day than most OTR drivers do in 2 weeks.

I agree with ya there Frosty, I bump a dock 20-25 times a day. And each day is different sometimes I have a pup, somedays a 48' and others a 53'.

One nice thing about LTL is that you can jump into OTR and they will recognize your experience. That's because we run the road (linehaul) and local city (P&D) and have similar equipment to the OTR carriers.

This I take exception to. At the present time I drive for a major LTL freight company, (probably the same one you work for), and am having problems making the transition to OTR. They tell me because I'm at home everyday and not sleeping in the truck I have no OTR to show. I do have OTR experience, but that was 8 years ago.

[Uturn2001]

There is one big difference between local and OTR. With local you basically have one set of laws you have to deal with. With OTR you have about 48, (not counting city statutes dealing with big trucks and freight.)

Some of the other skills OTR drivers should be trained on and master that local drivers may not have to deal with:

Trip planning and map reading/usage.
OTR hours of service and logging
Weight and length laws


I can understand why an OTR company would not want to just put someone who has only local experience in the driver's seat and send them out. What I do not understand is why so many of the companies insist on telling the driver they need to go back to school or take a refresher course when that person does have years of recent driving experience.

IMHO these companies should simply place the driver in a truck for a few weeks with an OTR experienced driver/trainer to work on the skills and knowledge needed and then turn them loose.

[Double R]

Some of the other skills OTR drivers should be trained on and master that local drivers may not have to deal with:
BULL!!!!!!!!!
Trip planning and map reading/usage.
They use city maps. Still need to be able to read one. Local drivers don't know where every business is
OTR hours of service and logging
Run over 12 hours and/or over 100 air miles you need to know how to do a log. And most do.
Weight and length laws
They apply to local trucks also. Can't take a day cab on a restricated route either

The real reason that OTR companies don't count local experience, THEY WOULD HAVE TO CREDIT YOU FOR ALL THAT TIME. IF YOU HAVE 5 YEARS DRIVING LOCAL. THEY WOULD HAVE TO START YOU AS AN EXPERIENCE DRIVER!
I know of only one OTR company that would(and has) count all my local experience.

[dcmilkwagon]

Some of the other skills OTR drivers should be trained on and master that local drivers may not have to deal with:
BULL!!!!!!!!!
Trip planning and map reading/usage.
[b]They use city maps. Still need to be able to read one. Local drivers don't know where every business is[b]
OTR hours of service and logging
Run over 12 hours and/or over 100 air miles you need to know how to do a log. And most do.
Weight and length laws
They apply to local trucks also. Can't take a day cab on a restricated route either

The real reason that OTR companies don't count local experience, THEY WOULD HAVE TO CREDIT YOU FOR ALL THAT TIME. IF YOU HAVE 5 YEARS DRIVING LOCAL. THEY WOULD HAVE TO START YOU AS AN EXPERIENCE DRIVER!
I know of only one OTR company that would(and has) count all my local experience.

Have to agree with ya there Double R. I not only have to budget and plan my time to make one delivery a day, I have to plan for 20 or more per day. And the pickups change on a minute to minute basis as customers call in to have their freight picked up.

I still have to run across the scales, which means I have to pay closer attention at each pickup, because we don't have sliding fifth wheels, nor do the axles on pups slide. So we have to know exactly where to load a companies freight to prevent an over-weight axle. once the freight is on and we are full there is little to nothing we can do to shift the weight from one axle to another.

I still have to run a logbook when I run linehaul, the only day we have to worry about is friday, because we get our 34 hour reset each weekend.

If anything P&D operations can be worst than OTR. I'm constantly exposed to morons in 4 wheelers on surface streets in the metro areas I run in. Harder to keep out of accidents in the city, especially when you consider we make residential deliveries, yes even with our 53' dry-vans.
Try turning one of those around in a cul-de-sac 2-3 times a week with out running over a car or someones grass. Now that's a challenge.

BTW, what company did you find that gave you full credit for your LTL experience? I'd like to know, in case my move to our OTR division falls through.

[Double R]

BTW, what company did you find that gave you full credit for your LTL experience? I'd like to know, in case my move to our OTR division falls through.

They gave me credit on 4 years of HHG(local) and 2 years(at the time) of local foodservice.
National Freight out of Vineland, NJ. Spent six months on a 100% dedicated account for them. Off every weekend and home two-three times a week(if I chose to be). They started me at the five-seven year rate and did not send me out with a trainer. Just a road test at the account that I was going to drive out of and a one day orientaion on paper work there. If the account would have not closed, I would have stayed :wink:

This I take exception to. At the present time I drive for a major LTL freight company, (probably the same one you work for), and am having problems making the transition to OTR. They tell me because I'm at home everyday and not sleeping in the truck I have no OTR to show. I do have OTR experience, but that was 8 years ago.

I think they are giving you a line of BS. Typical in that industry...they just want a guy with alot of local skills who can back a truck to work cheap. I know I can go back to my old OTR carrier at any time and keep my seniority...not that I would ever think of doing so unless things really went to hell and I needed work. Even then, I'd drop em' like a hat as soon as I could get back to local work. We've had a couple of guys hire straight-on with Wal-Mart's private fleet from my barn.

Why would you give up LTL for OTR? Makes no sense to me at all. Kind of like trying to sneak into Mexico from the US. But different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

[dcmilkwagon]

Why would you give up LTL for OTR? Makes no sense to me at all. Kind of like trying to sneak into Mexico from the US. But different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

Mainly for more money. I worked on the flex board the first year with this company, then the last 2 years I had a bid run. This year they decided to cut 5 bids, so I slipped back down to the flex board. So if I end up sitting at home for 1 or 2 days a week it really kills my paycheck. Each day I end up sitting at home is a 20% loss in wages. That hurts a lot, you know?

Just trying to do what's best for my family and looking at some of the other options I have to provide for them. I really don't want to move back to OTR, but I may have to, you know?